Fyffes’ dreams of being top banana must wait

When the news came it was hardly a surprise – though it was clearly still unwelcome for all that.

Fyffes has allowed Chiquita to back away from a shareholder meeting scheduled for Wednesday of next week to allow it time to engage with a rival Brazilian consortium.

With proxy advisory services advising against proceeding with the deal at this stage, it was almost inevitable that Chiquita would have to seek a deferral.

The Brazilian Cutrale/Safra grouping had been aggressively seeking shareholders' proxy votes in recent days to allow it to oppose the all-share deal.

But Fyffes is not happy.

From a position of wonder back in March that it had managed to engineer a merger of equals that would leave it with significant power in what would have been the world’s largest banana company – boasting projected sales of more than $4.5 billion (€3.5 billion) – it now faces the prospect of losing the prize and having to quickly adjust its own corporate horizons.

In its statement yesterday, Fyffes warned that a protracted process “is not in the interests of Fyffes business and shareholders”.

It is just the latest in a series of sharp exchanges that has seen each side accuse the other of distorting positions and issuing misleading statements.

The problem for chief executive David McCann and the Fyffes board is that while it continues to believe its proposal is in the best interests of shareholders of both companies, it is in no position to compete financially with Cutrale/Safra on a cash offer.

The Brazilian consortium have deep pockets and their cash bid is surely attractive to investors in Chiquita. But if it is to succeed, it is likely to go significantly higher than its current bid of $611 million or $13 a share. Market consensus is that it will take a bid of at least $16 a share – more than $750 million – to stand a reasonable chance of success.

But, from the Cutrale/Safra point of view, at least Chiquita is now talking to them. All Fyffes can do is wait.